Tennis Prose




May/22

18

Ons Jabeur Beat Jessica Pegula To Win First WTA 1000 Title


Ons Jabeur finally managed to capture one of the biggest wins of her career recently, as she managed to defeat Jessica Pegula in the Madrid Open.

The Tunisian tennis star is currently ranked in the top 10 in the world rankings, and has continued to shatter the records that have stood before her, with her win in Spain being just one of the latest remarkable achievement.

Jabeur recently became the first Arab ever to break into the world’s top 10 players, whilst her form throughout the Madrid Open meant that she was able to also become the first Arab winner of a WTA 1000 title, too!

In order to do so, she managed to defeat American Jessica Pegula 7-5, 0-6, 6-2 in a contest that appeared to go one way to the other throughout its duration. Indeed, after the 0-6 second set defeat, there were some nerves about whether she could get the job done and win her first WTA 1000 title, but she managed to accomplish what she may have only ever dreamed of doing.

However, in truth, Jabeur had to show plenty throughout the entire match and the competition, as she started the Final in rather dramatic fashion. She quickly found herself 1-4 down in the first set, but managed to bring it back to 4-4 with the help of Pegula as the American continued to make errors whilst playing at the baseline.

Nonetheless, the 27-year-old continued to power through as she let her fighting spirit shine bright and took the first set 7-5 after she had managed to save a set point at 4-5.

Unfortunately, her resilience and determination in the first set apparently lit a fire inside Pegula, especially after she essentially threw that set away. The American looked dominant and unstoppable in the second set as she raced to a 0-6 victory, thus taking the Madrid Open Final into a deciding set.

The Tunisian, though, did not appear to be downhearted by what had happened, as she continued to fight back with true grit and aggression, as he managed to earn the opportunity to serve out the set for the win before celebrating her impressive victory.

How did she get to the Madrid Open Final?

In order for the African tennis star to be in a position to defeat Pegula and win her first-ever WTA 1000 title, Jabeur had to overcome a number of challenges, with some requiring her to go a lot longer than she would have perhaps wanted.

She managed to defeat Jasmine Paolini in straight sets but only after a lengthy tie-break in the first set, before defeating Varvara Gracheva across three sets in a score that was very similar to the winning result that was achieved in the final – the last set finished 6-4 rather than 6-2.

Another three sets were required to beat the Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic in the Round of 16, whilst Jabeur managed to secure a huge victory in straight sets against former WTA world No. 1 and multiple Grand Slam winner Simona Halep in the quarterfinals.

A victory against Ekaterina Alexandrova in straight sets in the semifinal kept the dream alive for the Tunisian as she then conquered the American in the Final.

So Ons Jabeur’s Madrid conquest was a history-making effort and it’s unknown when or if it will ever happen againt that another African-born Arabian women will ascend to the WTA top ten rankings or win a WTA 1000 level tournament.

Jabeur is one of the favorites to win Roland Garros because of her confidence, varied game and effectiveness on red clay play.

Jabeur is only player to reach three clay court finals in 2022, with her Charleston and Rome runner up showings, sandwiching her Madrid title. Jabeur will enter Roland Garros having won 17 of her 20 matches on the clay surface, 11 of those victories in straight sets.

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1 comment

  • Scoop Malinowski · May 18, 2022 at 8:35 am

    I still remember the first time seeing Jabeur play at US Open juniors about ten years ago, she was very loose and relaxed and also flamboyant, on one point she hit two tweener shots on the same baseline rally! Yes, a real showboat to dare to try that, like a magical Marcelo Rios talent. Took her a while to adapt to WTA pro level but she has and now she is a threat to win a Grand Slam title.

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